EMDR Therapy

After the therapist and client agree that EMDR therapy is a good fit, the beginning sessions will involve discussing what the client wants to work on and improving the client's ability to manage distress.

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When ready for the next phases of EMDR therapy, the client will be asked to focus on a specific event. Attention will be given to a negative image, belief, emotion, and body feeling related to this event, and then to a positive belief that would indicate the issue was resolved.

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While the client focuses on the upsetting event, the therapist will begin sets of side-to-side eye movements, sounds, or taps. The client will be guided to notice what comes to mind after each set. They may experience shifts in insight or changes in images, feelings, or beliefs regarding the event. A positive cognition is then installed to help the client view themselves differently. 

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The client has full control to stop the therapist at any point if needed. The sets of eye movements, sounds, or taps are repeated until the event becomes less disturbing.

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EMDR therapy may be used within a standard talking therapy, as an adjunctive therapy with a separate therapist, or as a treatment all by itself.

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How Long Does EMDR Therapy Take?

A typical EMDR therapy session lasts from 60-90 minutes. It could take one or several sessions to process one traumatic experience.

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The goal of EMDR therapy is to process completely the traumatic experiences that are causing problems and to include new ones that are needed for full health. The amount of time it will take to complete EMDR treatment for traumatic experiences will depend upon the history of the client. Complete treatment of a single EMDR trauma target involves a three-pronged protocol to alleviate the symptoms and address the complete clinical picture. The three prongs include:
 

1. past memories

2. present disturbance

3. future actions

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Although EMDR therapy may produce results more rapidly than other forms of therapy, speed is not the goal of therapy and it is important to remember that every client has different needs. For instance, one client may take weeks to establish sufficient feelings of trust (Phase 2), while another may proceed quickly through the first six phases of treatment only to reveal something even more important that needs treatment.

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"Processing" in EMDR Therapy

"Processing" does not mean talking about a traumatic experience. "Processing" means setting up a learning state that will allow experiences that are causing problems to be "digested" and stored appropriately in your brain. That means that what is useful to you from an experience will be learned, and stored with appropriate emotions in your brain, and be able to guide you in positive ways in the future.

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The inappropriate emotions, beliefs, and body sensations will be discarded. Negative emotions, feelings and behaviours are generally caused by unresolved earlier experiences that are pushing you in the wrong directions. The goal of EMDR therapy is to leave you with the emotions, understanding, and perspectives that will lead to healthy and useful behaviours and interactions.

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What Can EMDR Be Used For?

 EMDR has been successfully used to treat:​

• PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder),

• Traumatic experiences (childhood, adolescence, adulthood),

• Anxiety and panic attacks,

• Grief and loss,

• depression,

• eating disorders,

• addiction,

• anger,

• pain, including phantom limb pain,

• phobias,

• performance anxiety,

• sleep problems,

• feelings of shame/worthlessness/low self-­ esteem.